Jaber Barakat Abu Fekheideh being treated for critical wounds in a Ramallah hospital after being attacked by Israeli settlers

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Three Palestinians were wounded, one critically, after being attacked by Israeli settlers on Saturday in the village of al-Janiya in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah.

According to locals, Israeli settlers assaulted and threw rocks at members of the Abu Fekheideh family while they were picking olives on their land in the al-Batha area of the village, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Talmon.

Jaber Barakat Abu Fekheideh was critically injured in the head, while his brother Hassan and cousin Muhammad were reported as mildly wounded, though it remained unclear exactly what type of wounds they sustained.

All three were taken to the Ramallah Hospital for treatment.

An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

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Saturday’s events were the latest in a series of attacks on Palestinian farmers during this year’s olive harvest season, which began early last month, and has seen several incidents of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian farmers and their lands in the occupied territory.

Palestinian officials told Ma'an at the time that settlers from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Gilad attacked different families from the villages of Jit and Farata in the Qalqiliya district, and Sarra in the Nablus district -- all located just south of the outpost.

The Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and violent acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces, who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.